The Swans' Fountain Swim
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day fifty-eight: 12 Days of Gleekmas, Day 7: Tina attends her aunt's wedding... she does NOT like her dress.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle. Now entering the seventh through ninth weeks, here comes cycle 3 of my gleekathon!_

_I wanted to do something Christmas-y, but not overly so, but then the song was perfect for this. So the stories in and of themselves aren't Christmas-themed, just the thing that inspired them is ;) You'll see :)_

_So presenting... **The 12 Days of Gleekmas - Day 7:** Tina + "Seven Swans A'Swimming"_

* * *

**"The Swans' Fountain Swim"  
Tina**

The seven dripping girls sat side by side, wringing out the water from their hair and their dresses. Tina helped Cora, the littlest of them at age six. Despite the looks some of their parents were giving them, standing and arguing amongst themselves, the girls were still relatively cheerful.

"Can we go again?" Cora begged her cousin as she fixed up her hair. Tina just gave her head a shake, hoping her mother – or Cora's – hadn't heard.

She was only partially sorry for having dragged her cousins into this. They'd all had fun, and that was what it had been about.

She hadn't been anxious for the day. Sure, she loved her aunt and soon-to-be uncle, and she was happy they were getting married at last. They had been together first, years ago, and had split weeks before the birth of her cousin Celia. Her aunt had later married, and of this union was born Cora. The marriage had not lasted, but it had brought back her aunt together with Celia's father.

She had no problem with going to the wedding. What she had a problem with was the dress, or what she had come to call a great poofy swan. This was by no means the kind of thing she would ever show herself in public wearing. She was just glad her friends wouldn't see. She was already embarrassed at being seen in it by family.

At the very least, she had her cousins there. There were seven of them girls, and they usually stuck together at family gatherings. Cora was the youngest at six, and Celia was now twelve. Olivia was eight, and an only child. The last three were sisters. The youngest was Angela, age nine, followed by Breanna, fourteen. The eldest, of all of them girls, was Kimmy. She was nineteen, and for the most part, she'd been Tina's closest relative growing up. In recent years though, as she'd finished high school, it seemed she'd changed… she was 'an adult' and wouldn't partake in 'child games.'

Once she'd finally – begrudgingly – slipped on the great poofy swan, done up her hair – her mother had insisted she give her 'the right kind' of makeup – they had gone off to the church. The first thing she'd heard, coming out of the car was a little squeal.

"Teeny!"

She turned just in time to see Cora come at her, in her own fancy dress. She appeared a lot happier about it than 'Teeny' did. She hugged her cousin before standing back to show off her dress.

"You like?" she grinned. Tina gave her a nod… It did look sweet on her.

Tina and her parents had gone to take their seats, where Tina met up with the rest of her cousins. With Kimmy having 'jumped ship,' Breanna had become her new ally. They kept Angela and Olivia entertained as they waited for the ceremony to get started. As they settled, the music starting, Tina caught a glimpse of Kimmy, gave her a smile. The smile she got back could hardly be called warm. Tina turned back forward, looking to the altar.

When they'd gotten to the reception hall afterward, the comments she got from her family may had been compliments, but all it was to her was a show of how much they didn't really know her.

She'd finally had to get away from it. She moved outside, sitting on the edge of the large round fountain, lit up from the bottom. She ran her hand through the water, wishing she was back with Artie, and Mercedes, and all the others.

"There you are!" she heard Breanna and she looked back to see her coming along, followed by Angela, Olivia, Celia, and Cora. "Why aren't you in there?" Breanna asked, as the littler girls were drawn in by the bright lights in the fountain. Celia sat next to Breanna, who sat next to Tina.

"It's too hot in there," she shrugged, cooking up an excuse. "I needed some air. How's it going in there?"

"It's okay," Breanna shrugged.

"Teeny, can we go in?" Cora called out, dragging her fingers through the water.

"Be careful," Tina moved to hold on to Cora, making sure she wouldn't fall in. "Don't think it'd be a good idea," she explained. Cora looked back at her.

"Why not?" Tina looked around to her cousins, who were all looking back at her with curiosity. They all had – Tina included – this little voice in them which seemed to agree… it would be kind of fun… She wasn't usually the one with the initiative, only now…

"Just the feet… That could be okay, I guess," she nodded, and the others grinned. "Okay," Tina moved to get her shoes off, and the others did the same. They all sat in a row along the fountain's edge, facing inward this time as they dipped their feet in. There were squeals at first – the water was cold – then giggles, until…

"What are you doing? Angela, get out of there. Breanna…" Tina looked back, though she already knew it was Kimmy. She rolled her eyes, holding on to Cora's hand still.

"It's just the feet, it's fine," she insisted.

"Yeah, you'd think so," Kimmy scoffed. "Breanna, Angela, come on," she signalled to her sisters. They looked to each other, then to Tina, as she suddenly let go of Cora and stood in the water, facing her cousin.

"It was your idea, you know?" Kimmy gave her a look, but she went on. "No, no, it was. Aunt Jen's wedding."

"That was years ago."

"Yeah. You still had fun back then." Kimmy's glare sharpened as she approached, trying to pull Tina out. She backed away, further into the fountain. She could feel the jet of water lightly spray in her back.

"I still have fun, you know? I just don't go off acting like a kid to do it," she crossed her arms over herself.

"But you still are a kid… and it has nothing to do with it. Aunt Jen joined us, remember?" Breanna, who had also been there, nodded. At this point, the other girls had started getting up, joining Tina further in the fountain. Celia held her little sister's hand, as the water was higher for the six-year-old. It also made it easier for her to dip her hands in, as she started flicking droplets.

"Breanna, Angela," Kimmy tried again, but it was no use. Frustrated, Kimmy took off her shoes, bent on retrieving her sisters herself.

"Run!" Cora squealed, and the stampede was off, as five of them dashed into the fountain proper, laughing at their escape. Tina smirked, watching them, then looked back to Kimmy, who was just stepping into the water.

"Thank you," she glared.

"You're welcome," Tina spoke calmly, before kicking up some water at Kimmy. As she reacted in shock, Tina caught up her dress and ran after her cousins, who had taken to liberty in the fountain by splashing around and at each other. When they saw her coming, they turned the splashing on to her. She shielded her eyes, laughing at the onslaught.

"Tina!" she heard Kimmy coming behind her, and she turned, getting a kick of water at her back in the process.

"Go ahead, splash me," she stood in place. "You'll feel good about it," she nodded. She could see the temptation was starting to break her, get through to her.

"Splash!" Celia encouraged Kimmy. Cora splashed the others in demonstration. They squealed, then laughed. Kimmy looked down at the water, seeming to know what she would unleash if she gave in. She looked up, and Tina saw she was smiling again. She smiled back, seeing this one wasn't spiteful. When all of them saw this, they seemed to brace themselves, getting ready…

Kimmy splashed Tina, and it was like the pistol shot at a race, kicking off a splash war. The girls ran around, laughing as they evaded, were splashed. It was almost like tag. Once they were the splashee, they became the splasher.

It went on for about five minutes, until they'd drawn attention, and their parents came stomping along. Everything stopped, as the girls looked to their parents, and they came waddling out of the fountain, dripping watery trails behind them.

They didn't get off so bad. Their aunt Jen, Olivia's mother, was able to lighten their 'sentence.' They should have felt bad… they really didn't.

THE END


End file.
